There’s Heart in Art
Hope, optimism, and passion soar high at MADE’s 30th anniversary exhibit
Art copies, captures, and cements life. At the Metrobank Arts and Design Excellence (MADE) competition, the effects of super typhoon Yolanda are evident in this year’s roster of winners in painting and sculpture categories.
Grand winner Natalio Gelisanga Alob Jr. creates a unique and interactive sculpture made of terracotta. His Storm Surge is a rotating sphere, which magically conveys his vision of Yolanda.
“Storm Surge is an interactive globe that gives two meanings when turned left or right. On the top of the globe is the eye of the storm that threatens a community with its strong waves. People from all lifestyles persevere to survive by holding on to each other. When you turn it clockwise, an illusion is created. The tide surges up, swallowing all the people. But when it is turned counterclockwise, the resilient spirit and unity of the community emerge from the waves. This spirit of overcoming life’s challenges is a metaphor for the virtue of the Filipino,” explains Natalio.
The same vision is depicted in John Verlyn C. Santos’ “Pinagtagi-tagping Kapalaran,” a water-based media on paper that displays the devastating aftermath of Yolanda. Set in a church that serves as the victims’ safe haven, his painting shows Pinoys’ innate positivity. Despite the desolation, there are smiles, there’s hope. The Bulacan-based grand winner paints an optimistic outlook: Children sewing (pinagtagpi-tagpi) the tattered pages of the canvas. John says he purposely stepped on, crumpled, and almost destroyed the canvas to achieve a worn out effect.
While good vibes emanate in John’s work, oil/acrylic on canvas grand winner Wilbert Custodio’s “Ang Paraiso Nagsisiksikan at Pinatong-Patong” shows a stark contrast. It’s gloomy. It’s sad. It’s hellish. Painted in bloody red, his artwork is rendered in black lines, white and black square rooftops of a chaotic community. But then again, hidden in his depressing, piled-up depiction of poverty is a glimmer of light emanating from roofs and windows shows society’s enduring hope. Poverty, overpopulation, and a lack of decent living have always been the center of his works.
“My inspiration is Yolanda. I am from Aklan and we were also hit by the typhoon. I always see poverty, especially in the places we call ‘the paradise of the poor’ like the squatter’s area. Everyone is piled up, constrained in a limited space without proper domestic life and occupation. People from the province force their families to fit inside this so-called paradise,” explains Wilbert.
THE FUTURE OF ART From left: Interior Design category grand winner Dr. Rowena Garcia and her Edge of Design; Wilbert Custodio and Ang Paraiso Nagsisiksikan at Pinatong-Patong; John Verlyn Santos and his Pinagtagpi-tagping Kapalaran (Images by Noel b. Pabalate)
Yolanda may be out of the picture, but hope and second chances also revolve around oil/acrylic on canvas grand winner Sergio Bumatay III’s “The Extraordinary Manifestation of Something Undeniably Possible.” A surrealist-styled depiction of a field of empty glass bottles, where drawn eyes are attached like balloons, his painting is the reassertion of the value of life, renewal, and hope over death, destruction, and despair. “When my father was sick, I had doubts and fears about the future. But he was given a second chance, and it became my inspiration,” says the children’s book illustrator.
“If you look at our 30-year-old history, it is a veritable social history. We don’t dictate a theme. They just paint their sentiment on what they see. In the olden days, these [sentiments revolved around themes like] the Ninoy Aquino assassination, Pinatubo, OFWs, Flor Contemplacion, emergence of technology—anything,” explains Metrobank Foundation president Aniceto Sobrepeña. “This year, however, is different. The quality of the works have leveled up that we’ve given special citations because the judges have difficulty deciding.”
A guest admiring one of the works on display at this year’s Metrobank Arts and Design Excellence Awards Exhibit; Natalio Gelisanga Alob Jr. and his Storm Surge sculpture
MADE has also launched its Alice Guillermo Art Criticism Award to promote literary arts and criticism. Open to all college students, anyone can submit his or her 1000-page maximum art critic essay about the winners or the finalists’ artwork. (www.mbfoundation.org.ph)
Winners of the special citations are: Ronson Culibrina for La Laguna Estigia Interviente: Human Stavation (painting), Don Bryan Michael Banag for By the River of Fate (water media), Arnel David Garcia for Facets of Tragedy (sculpture). Also announced are the winners of the architecture and interior design competitions. Architects were challenged to design an iconic structure for a civic center for Arts, Culture, and Tourism at BGC Veritown Fort. For their design concept #StartUP, winners Arch. Joel Anthony Ong and Arch. Melissa Mateo dabble on contemporary urban playground using sustainable design solution. Also interlaced with touches of art, interior design grand winner Rowena Garcia’s Edge of High blueprint highlights rustic design infused with bamboo.
MADE has launched the careers of Leeroy New, Lynard Paras, and Elmer Borlongan, among others.
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